Social Responsibility

Centre for Ageing Better and MICRA to build evidence for ageing better

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 10:48:00 BST

The Centre for Ageing Better joins MICRA as a member of the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub.

The purpose of the Ageing Hub is to build the evidence base for transforming attitudes and experiences of later life. The news came as part of an announcement of a five-year partnership between the Centre for Ageing Better and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to develop and share innovative approaches to tackling social, economic and health inequalities in later life.

The Greater Manchester Ageing Hub has been established by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to bring together plans to support older people (50 plus) living in Greater Manchester. The Hub will gather best practice around achieving healthy ageing while exploring new ideas and solutions for developing age-friendly neighbourhoods across the region. Research will also be carried on a range of issues facing older workers, especially those affected by redundancy and long-term unemployment. Other members of Greater Manchester Ageing Hub are New Economy, Public Health England and Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO).

Professor Chris Phillipson who leads MICRA’s age-friendly programme of activities, said: "The ageing hub represents a major step forward in Greater Manchester, taking a leadership role around the challenge of an ageing population. It represents exciting opportunities for researchers at the University of Manchester to extend their involvement with a range of partners across Greater Manchester. It will also assist the work of the University in supporting the aims and objectives of the devolution agenda".

The Centre for Ageing Better, an independent charitable foundation supported by a £50 million endowment from the Big Lottery Fund, has chosen Greater Manchester as its first locality partner. The City of Manchester is already recognised internationally for its achievements in creating an age-friendly city, and the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub is working towards Greater Manchester becoming an age-friendly city region.

Anna Dixon, Chief Executive of the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “Greater Manchester is in an ideal position to use its devolved powers to respond positively to its ageing population. This is a unique opportunity to demonstrate how a large scale and evidence-based approach to creating an age-friendly region can transform experiences of later life".

The partnership will start by developing and testing new approaches to supporting individuals aged 50 years and over to re-enter the labour market. Employment rates for people living in the North West of England are significantly worse than the English average and in Greater Manchester almost one in three of the region’s 50-64 year olds are out of the labour force. Being out of work in one’s 50s is associated with poor health, financial insecurity and social isolation. Further details can be found on the Centre for Ageing Better website.